A Moment Of Wonder
by ValaiNoctem
Summary: Leon meets a strange girl in Raccoon city protected by five Lickers and refuses to let them get hurt, what does he find out and what does Wesker want with her. I made this because Lickers are one of my favorite monsters in the RE series. One-Shot


It had been like a nightmare, Raccoon City had been engulfed by bio- weapons that were a secret project of the Umbrella organization; the base of the infection was the "T" virus that reanimated the cells of the dead or twisted the DNA of whatever it was injected in. Many of the creatures were nothing more than walking corpses of humans and dogs but some were living birds that had eaten the infected flesh or creatures that had direct exposure to the virus and were mutated beyond the reasoning of nature or of any higher power. There were survivors hidden in safe houses or wandering in the streets trying to find a way out of the disaster they had once called home, one of the survivors was a man by the name of Leon Kennedy; a newly transfer police officer who had arrived to see the beginning of the horror that had taken over the town. He was searching for any other survivors or people who could help him, he wasn't having luck but he had thought that he saw a man in a trench coat wearing all black and even a pair of sunglasses in the night time; it was something that struck him as odd as he ran towards a building where he had heard screams before he saw the man. The screams were from a young mother who was being attacked by a bio- weapons that Leon hated with every fiber of his being as he noticed the exposed brain and the naked flesh, its paws ended in sharp claws and it had a tongue that was just a murderous as the teeth in its mouth, the woman was screaming in fear as the creature looked ready to strike before Leon took a shot at it and hit the base of the brain which caused the creature to screech in pain before it turned to him and flared out it's tongue before Leon fired two more shots into its' head which finally put the creature down; the woman grabbed her baby and supplies before she ran to her car and proceeded to drive towards the nearest exit out of the city. Leon watched from the doorway as he gave a faint smile then shook his head and checked his ammunition, he still had four clips and was not too concerned about what he might run into since he could see the gun shop; he remembered the death of the shop keeper when he first went in their but he had the windows fixed up and boarded enough to where they couldn't break into it again which meant that it was also a safe place to hide out for a few moments until a stray dog or another creature; a Licker as they were filed under would break down open the place, it was hard to find something strong enough to keep their claws from cutting the wood or from having it crash into the barrier and break it down all together.

"I'd get in your car and drive out of here. And fast." Leon said before the woman nodded and started to get things together.

"Thank you sir." She said before he left, his mind was still wondering about the man in trench coat and why he was there.

The gun shop was still in place and the wood hadn't been touched which was something new from the evening but it was also a blessing which meant he could go and find something edible for a meal, the markets were a place to find food but it was also an easy place to be found but the bio-weapons loose in the area; with a sigh he fan a hand over his neck then grabbed the keys to the car he had been driving, it was a green SUV with a few dents and scratches from things that he had run into or that had tried to attack him. When he got outside he was shocked to see a little girl with red hair up in pig tails standing in the street and tapping her foot as if she was waiting for someone before she heard the shop door close then turned to Leon, she had deep aqua eyes and a band-aid on her left cheek but what had Leon worried was the torn brown shirt that she was wearing, it had looked like she was attacked by something.

"Hey, kid." Leon said walking up to her, "It's nice safe here, you should come with me."

The girl gave a glare then shook her head before she ran off into an alley way as the man from before jumped from a window and onto the car by Leon's, denting the roof and cracking the windows; the man looked in the direction the girl had run off to with a faint smirk then seemed to vanish the next moment. Leon was getting very concerned about seeing the man only to have him vanish within seconds as if he wasn't even there, it was something that a normal human could do and gave Leon the impression that the man was a bio-weapon or had a connection to Umbrella and the creation of the bio-weapons; he didn't have time to continue with his train of thought before a pack of dogs had found him, they were half eaten with one's right eye hanging out as if something tried to rip it out. They snarled at him before charging which made Leon run to the car and open the passenger side door and getting it just as a dog's body came into contact with it creating a dent in the door before they growled and ran off, almost like telling Leon that they would be back later; with a sigh Leon started to car and drove to a nearby gas station that looked to be secure and pulled up to see the girl from before hiding under a table with a grin on her face as a Licker was in the building with her looking for her like it was a game. Leon watched as the Licker stopped looking then went to sniffing at the meats until the girl was grabbed by a zombie, Leon unbuckled but stopped hearing the girl say a name; why she would called a name was beyond him so he snuck up to the shop and peered over the window to see that the Licked had taken the zombie from the girl but ripped the sleeve of her shirt; the girl watched as the Licker had torn the zombie limb from limb then left it to die before the girl hugged the Licker and smiled,

"Thank you Zander." She smiled petting the neck of the bio-weapon as it licked her cheek then went to go out the back door.

'_There is no way that could happen…_' Leon thought as he stood up and quietly walked into the station, the girl looked at him then scoffed before going to the cadies and grabbing a Cookies and Cream chocolate bar.

"It's mean to spy." She said opening the bar and taking a bite.

"How did you get that thing to listen to you?" Leon asked, the girl glared at him then sat down where she stood.

The girl proceeded to eat her candy bar as Leon sighed and grabbed a sandwich then went to sit by her to find that she was humming a song while eating her candy, she didn't seem to want to talk to him about the bio-weapon and took offense to him calling it a 'thing' when she had given it a name; for some reason Leon couldn't grasp such a thing as what he had seen but somehow the girl had tamed the Licker and in return it looked after her; then again the girl was six at the most and may have something about her that makes her more acceptable to them. Perhaps the bio-weapons could function as a more social group the Umbrella had intended and that the girl was young enough to be considered a child by their senses since they had mostly fed off of adults and teens, if so then if they got out the Lickers may spread out and create more groups; however as to how they would breed was a mystery to even Umbrella unless they bred like dogs, if so then they couldn't be allowed to live outside of Raccoon City; Leon didn't think they deserved to live at all until the licker the girl had named Zander came back but then quickly left through the window that hadn't even been there as the girl giggled,

"Zander must've found Stella." She said then giggled more.

"Stella?" Leon asked, tilting his head to one side ever so slightly.

The girl finished her candy and licked her fingers before she nodded and grabbed a bag of chips.

"Zander and Stella are a pair, but they keep the adult stuff away from me." She said, it was then that Leon got up and loaded his gun.

The girl gasped and with her eyes covered had screamed which had altered not only the two Lickers that where a few yards away but three more that where in the area as Leon swore and grabbed what he could before he ran to his car and sped off, leaving the girl behind as the five Lickers ran into the station, they flared their tongues to catch any scent of Leon as the man in all black appeared, the girl glared and stood between him and the Lickers as they sat up and growled. The man smirked at them then looked at the little girl who was now furious as tears welled up in her eyes, she was tired of people trying to hurt the creatures she saw as her friends and family since they had taken her in and looked after her so she was never alone in the now zombie infested city; the man knelt down to the girl's level then rested an arm on his knee in a harmless manner as the girl crossed her arms; she wasn't pleased with him being there after Leon tried to hurt the Lickers. She stared him down then held her arms out as if to protect them as the man stood up and removed his glasses, he eyes had a red glow to them which made the girl glare even more before the man spoke,

"What's your name girl?" He asked, his voice was very dominate and assertive.

"My name is….My name is Lori!" She replied as the Lickers got up, the man chuckled.

"I am Albert Wesker and I believe that you have a gift." He said, Lori tilted her head.

"What kind of gift?" Lori asked, Wesker merely gave her a pet on the head and started to walk away.

"This gift of Wonder." He said.

And with that he was gone as the girl ran her hand over the spine of Zander, he was pleased to see that there was someone with the gift to tame the Lickers but he wanted to know more about the girl herself; she didn't have any fear of the creatures which had made him wonder if her parents where involved with Umbrella or if she was taken in by them but for what she had shown him he was quite pleased with that moment of wonder.


End file.
